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Animation Mentor Hosts Awesome Events Animation Mentor recently hosted three days of events in July that kicked off with an open house and included a job fair, graduation and BBQ. Visitors started their weekend, on Friday, July 10, by checking out Animation Mentor's headquarters in Emeryville, California. Students, friends and family were greeted by Animation Mentor staff, who gave them a tour of the office. Graduates of the program signed their names on a bright yellow wall called Alumni Alley and were invited to indulge in a game of ping-pong or Rock Band. It's at the Animation Mentor events where students meet each other for the first time in person. Rene Barrera traveled from Corpus Christi, Texas, to attend the fun-filled Animation Mentor weekend and attend his graduation ceremony. Rene met some of his classmates for the first time at the office tour. "It was great to actually shake their hand and/or give them a big hug," said Rene. "The highlight of the weekend was making so many new friends. And now through Facebook, I am keeping in touch with so many fellow and future alumni." "It's interesting trying to match faces to avatars. It's like meeting family you haven't seen in a long time," said Heather Kilber, who flew from Minnesota to attend the Animation Mentor events. "I've gotten closer to my online classmates/friends here at AM than I ever had at my previous college, which was a campus." About 130 Animation Mentor graduates attended the job fair along with recruiters from leading studios. Recruiters included Sony Pictures Imageworks, Bungie Studios, ImageMovers Digital, Pixar Animation Studios, Cinematico, Lucasfilm, Reel FX and DreamWorks Animation. "We were excited to see so many high-caliber studios, and it's great that the students were able to meet these recruiters in person," said Becca Romeo, career services manager at Animation Mentor. "The recruiters have received all the demo reels from the graduates that submitted reels to the job fair. There's strong creativity and talent among our graduates, so we look forward to assisting them with their job search." "Attending the job fair was totally worth it!" said Rene. For Rene, there was deep satisfaction in being able to meet the recruiters in person and personally delivering his work to them. On Saturday, 119 Animation Mentor students from all over the globe attended graduation at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Bobby Beck, CEO and cofounder of Animation Mentor, repelled from the catwalk as well as exciting entrances by cofounders Shawn Kelly and Carlos Baena. Spike also made an appearance by presenting a suitcase with the Mentor Choice Awards to the founders. Graduates at the ceremony came from places as far as New Jersey, Austria, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The commencement speaker was Dave Burgess, head of character animation at DreamWorks and mentor at Animation Mentor, who provided nuggets of wisdom about life to graduates. "You guys have exhibited perfect timing in graduating because as you know the whole animation industry is going gangbusters right now," said Burgess, who has been a part of Animation Mentor since its first class. "There is so much happening all over the world. There are great films being made everywhere," he said. "Since you guys are taking virtual classes from all over the world, it's really cool that it has synchronistically lined up." Some tips he provided included:
"This summer graduation was one of the best we've ever had!" said Molly Wolfsehr, events manager at Animation Mentor, who organized the graduation and barbecue. "Some of the highlights included seeing eight of our fantastic mentors presenting awards, the spectacular commencement speech by DreamWorks David Burgess and our awesome graduates from Graduating Classes 11 & 12!" "AM Graduation was the moment of the weekend," said Maya Karp, who flew from Seattle, Washington, to attend the festivities. "Not because the diploma is a license to practice, but because the practice I put in over the last 18 months is made manifest." More than 500 Animation Mentor students and alumni, friends and family attended the barbecue which was held at Crissy Field in San Francisco on Sunday. People ate hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and chips, and chatted with their peers. BBQ goers participated in a game where each team had to act out one of the 12 principles of animation. Fun raffle prizes, including an Animation Mentor skateboard, were won by gamegoers. While everyone was happy to graduate, there was some nostalgia for the online animation school. "I'm so happy to be graduated, but at the same time I miss it," said Animation Mentor graduate Amanda Wagner of Phoenix, Arizona. "It is an experience that I'll never forget and I've made some great lifetime buddies."
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